LAHORE: Pakistan’s former cricketers expressed dismay over the team’s performance in their heavy loss to India at the Asia Cup.

Babar Azam’s men crumbled like nine pins in their 228-run defeat to India in their Super Four match in Colombo on Monday, marking Pakistan’s worst-ever loss to their arch-rivals in One-day Internationals.

India went on a batting rampage as they posted 356-2 with Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul smashing centuries before tghey bundled out Pakistan for 128.

Legendary batter Zaheer Abbas said Pakistan never looked like they were going to pose a threat in the chase. “We didn’t go with all our will to chase the target,” Zaheer told Dawn from London.

Former pacer and chief selector Salim Altaf concurred with Zaheer’s analysis.

“Overall, it was a pathetic performance which was very unbecoming of the world’s top-ranked [ODI] team,” he told Dawn. “The Indian players made better use of conditions while batting and bowling and we failed to do that.”

Former captain and batting great Younis Khan put it more simply, saying Pakistan were “outclassed in all departments”.

“India came out with a plan and executed it well,” he told a private television channel. “We had no back-up plan and nor an intent to win.:”

Former star all-rounder Shahid Afridi also slammed Pakistan’s lack of planning in the chase.

“Losing the match is fine but they should’ve gone for a total of 290,” he told another private television channel. “India’s bowlers made better use of the pitch.”

Former all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, a member of the think tank of the incumbent body of the Pakistan Cricket Board, told another private telvision channel that Pakistan were “wrong in all aspects”.

“The approach in batting, execution in fielding and intensity in bowling were nowhere to be seen,” he lamented. “The entire team should sit down to analyse the performance critically rise from this defeat.”

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023